


The Better Person

by everystareverywhere



Series: Written in the Stars [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:11:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1431427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everystareverywhere/pseuds/everystareverywhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonathon decides to tell the Doctor about someone in his past. The Doctor thinks perhaps a visit to this person is in order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Better Person

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter calls for the Doctor to be played by Billie Piper and the companion is David Tennant.

Jonathon wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell the Doctor about Alicia.   
  
Alicia was part of his past, a past that has many scars–though not as many (or as deep) as the Doctor’s. He thought that perhaps he should tell her about Alicia. That it was because of her that he barely finished school. Because of her, he had to crawl back to his father and ask for a place to live. Because of her, he doesn’t have high self-esteem. As much as he didn’t want to admit, Alicia played a huge role in his life. If his life was like a book, than she was the antagonist. He felt that it was a part of who he was. He couldn’t hide it forever.   
  
Though he did try.   
  
He had made the decision to not talk about her. That past was in the past and his future was forevermore tangled up with the Doctor. He knew that she would never think less of him because of a bad relationship that he had, but he still couldn’t bring himself to talk about her. The Doctor was healing the scars Alicia left behind–how’s that for ironic?–but he still felt that talking about her would just bring her back to life for him, which was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.   
  
He couldn’t avoid it, however, when they went to the planet Raxican. Raxican was perhaps the most beautiful, yet deadly place they had been to. And what made it worse was the witches. At one point, they had grabbed Jonathon when the Doctor’s was turned and took him away in what could be equivalent to a getaway car, though it was a wagon. The Doctor found him with no problems, but just as they were trying to sneak out, the one witch (an ugly of a woman, really) named Isador growled around, not sure where they were as she said, “Oh, I can smell him, all full of doubts. If it wasn’t for that evil one, he wouldn’t be so chickened out.”   
  
The Doctor, of course, came to his rescue, but wouldn’t have been able to complete the task if Jonathon didn’t help her out by holding the sonic screwdriver in one hand and a potion the Doctor had done earlier in the other.   
  
When matters were settled and Jonathon and the Doctor stood outside the TARDIS admiring the view without being worried that they were going to be killed, the Doctor asked, “What did she mean before? The witch, I mean. Do you know what she meant when she said ‘the man full of doubts’?”   
  
Jonathon tried to casually brush her off. “Oh, nothing, I’m sure. I mean, we all doubt ourselves now and again. Not the most unusual thing in the world.”   
  
The Doctor nodded. “True. But ‘the evil one’? Who did she mean?”   
  
Jonathon looked over at her, and noticed the Doctor wouldn’t exactly catch her eye. She seemed to be admiring her fingernails instead of the view, or even him. “You don’t think she meant you, did you?”   
  
The Doctor again wouldn’t look up. “I don’t know what she meant. That’s why I’m asking you.”   
  
Jonathon turned to face her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “She was not talking about you. You are not the evil one! Remember, she also said that if it wasn’t for the evil one, I wouldn’t be so chickened out. And ever since I met you, I’ve never been more brave in my life.”   
  
The Doctor smiled. “I’m glad. But you shouldn’t doubt yourself, you know. You’re a brilliant man. One of the best, actually.”   
  
Jonathon dropped his arms. He gave a toothless grin. “Thanks. I don’t…” he shrugged. “I know what she meant.” Now it was his turn to look away. “I know she didn’t mean you.”   
  
“Oh.” The Doctor paused. “Who did she mean? She couldn’t possibly have meant Melissa. I have to say, I can tolerate her more in this regeneration, but she’s not actually one that can be defined as ‘evil’…”   
  
“She meant Alicia,” Jonathon finally admitted. He knew that the Doctor was secretly snooping, trying to find the answer. She would never flat out ask, but she would continue walking around the topic until he answered her. She was like a damn dog with a bone, actually. Only instead of just biting right into it, she would nibble on the sides.   
  
“Oh. Who’s Alicia?”   
  
He took a deep breath. “Someone I used to know. Listen, can we not talk about this now? I just…” he shrugged and then nodded towards the TARDIS. “Let’s just go somewhere else.”   
  
The Doctor nodded and they proceed to go on four more adventures until finally Jonathon was able to talk about her. They were back in the TARDIS, just having escaped an alien that very much wanted Jonathon’s head over his fireplace. Apparently, Jonathon had the most beautiful eyes the alien had ever seen. It also didn’t want to listen to the fact that Jonathon was attached to his head, and it couldn’t just pop right off like that alien race. But now the Doctor and Jonathon were flying in the vortex, just enjoying the quiet for a little bit.   
  
Jonathon sat down across from the Doctor who was nursing a cup of tea. Jonathon held his glass of water between his hands when he said, “Alicia Blakely was my girlfriend before Melissa.”   
  
The Doctor didn’t say anything. She knew that whatever made him want to talk might quickly pass, so instead she took a sip of her tea and watched as he traced the top of his cup with his finger.   
  
“I met her in secondary school. She was…she was the most gorgeous girl in the school. She had long brown hair, bright green eyes, and her smile…” Jonathon faded, remembering the girl before all the heartache. He really did love her. “Anyway, I never thought she would look twice at me. I mean, look at me.” He gestured to his body.   
  
The Doctor nodded. “I am looking,” as all she said. He didn’t know what exactly she meant by that, but guessing from the look in her eyes, she meant it more than just in a casual way. He cleared his throat before moving on.   
  
“Anyway, I cared about her. I really did. I think I may even have loved her. She was…she was all I wanted.” He was fast to say, “At the time. She was what I wanted back then. Or, at least, what I thought I wanted.”  
  
“Jonathon, it’s fine,” the Doctor said with a smile. “Go on.”   
  
“When she finally noticed me, I thought life couldn’t get any better. And when I asked her out on a date and she said yes…I could have jumped over the moon. But that was before she hurt me.”   
  
Fire suddenly appeared in the Doctor’s eyes. “Hurt?”   
  
Jonathon grabbed onto her hand, one that wasn’t holding her cup. “Not physically. She never laid a hand on me.” He pulled back his hand and looked down. “But verbally…”   
  
The Doctor watched as Jonathon fought a battle inside of himself. He didn’t know whether to tell her or not.  _‘What the hell,’_  he thought.  _‘In for a penny…’_ However, he didn’t notice that the Doctor was too fighting a battle.   
  
“She would often call me an idiot. At first I thought she was playing around, but after a while…” he shrugged. He tried to play it off as though it was nothing, but actually it destroyed him. He couldn’t look at himself for months when they were together. “She would say that I belonged in a mental institution because I was too old to love superheroes. She would criticize everything I did. My grades were never good enough. I never paid enough attention to her. I never spent enough on her. Etc, etc.”   
  
He shook his head. He gave a humorless laugh as he said, “I actually moved in with her. I thought she loved me, and that even though she continually pointed out all my faults, that it was just nothing, you know. My friends warned me. Melissa especially. She told me that Alicia was bad news. I should have listened. Don’t get me started on what my father said…”  
  
The Doctor reached out and touched his hand. He looked up at her. He saw that the Doctor did, in her own way, love him for exactly who he was. He didn’t know if it was romantic love or platonic love, but either way, it didn’t matter. She loved him, for better or for worse, and he couldn’t love her more in the moment if he tried. The Doctor saw the best, and only the best, in Jonathon. She knew he had faults, but if anything she loved him because of those faults.   
  
However, Jonathon didn’t notice that inside the Doctor, she was fuming. Not at him, never at him. At her. This Alicia Blakely, who took the most wonderful man in creation and made him doubt himself. Made him think less of what he was.   
  
“When was the last time you saw her?”   
  
“Oh,” Jonathon screwed up his face, thinking, “I believe it was 2003. After she broke up with me, yes she broke up with me, I never saw her again. Don’t know what happened to her, actually.”   
  
The Doctor made a decision. It was probably the most stupid thing she had ever decided to do, but she was going to do it.   
  
She was going to have a little chat with this Alicia Blakely.   
  
~*~  
  
The Doctor had to handle this with the upmost care. She knew that if Jonathon caught wind about this, he would put his foot down. ‘That is not why I told you!’ he would yell at her. And he would be right. He told her because they were best friends and this Alicia prat was a part of his past. Though the Doctor couldn’t find it anywhere with her to forgive his woman who had taken Jonathon’s self-worth, made it into a tight ball and then proceed to bounce on it a few hundred times before kicking it across the room and spitting on it.   
  
So, sue her, the Doctor was going to talk to her.   
  
When Jonathon had gone to bed, it was not usually for the Doctor to stay in the console room and tinker around with a few things. After about a half-an-hour, she went to check that he was asleep. He was. The Doctor ran back to the console and pushed some buttons with some force.   
  
“Come on, old girl,” the Doctor whispered to her TARDIS. “Let’s find this bitch.”   
  
The TARDIS landed in the middle of London, not too far off from where she met Jonathon. When she opened the door, she hoped that the Jonathon in the past didn’t go out for a stroll at night, otherwise this was going to be very complicated. And she knew she shouldn’t be here, that being here was not safe in terms of timelines, but she honestly couldn’t care. She wanted to meet the woman who broke Jonathon and give her a piece of her mind.   
  
And, if by chance the Doctor got to smack her pretty little face, well that would be okay too.   
  
She wandered around, looking for a woman who had brown hair and bright green eyes. She even went into a couple of stores, asking people if they knew an Alicia Blakely. And given the year, she had to be about twenty-two, twenty-three, depending if she was the same age as Jonathon. She even went into a couple of clubs, but she wasn’t there either.   
  
The Doctor, however, was not going to give up. Blood boiled in her veins and her two hearts were pumping in a way they haven’t before. Usually her hearts pump this strong when Jonathon gives her a certain look that–even though it’s cliché–makes her weak in the knees. But now, she was so angry, she was certain that she did look like oncoming storm that Daleks thought her to be. To see this woman, up close and personal…well, the Doctor wasn’t actually sure how she would handle that. She was just certain that something had to be said to her.   
  
It’s just, the Doctor had no idea where she could possibly be. She assumed that she would be in a club, but she had no way to know for certain. She could be home. But she locked the TARDIS onto her, and this is why the old girl has taken her. Maybe she passed her, and just didn’t realize it.   
  
“Hey, can I bum a smoke?”   
  
The Doctor turned on the sidewalk and saw a very pretty woman standing there, staring straight at her. Her long brown hair was done up in curls and under the streetlight the girl’s eyes shine bright green. Bingo.   
  
“Don’t smoke,” the Doctor answered.   
  
“Oh. Okay. Thought I saw you smoking,” the girl apologized before moving away.   
  
“Wait.” The woman turned back around. The Doctor could see what Jonathon meant; she was beautiful. But her inside was a completely different matter. “Are you, by chance, Alicia Blakely?”   
  
The woman smiled. “Yeah, I am. Have we met before?”   
  
The Doctor gave a cold smile. “No. No, we haven’t. However, I think we both know the same person: Jonathon Smith.”   
  
Then Alicia said two words that made the Doctor white with rage: “Jonathon who?”   
  
All the Doctor could see was fire before her eyes, but she tried to remain calm. Barely. “Jonathon Smith. Tall fellow. Brown hair. Wears glasses when he reads.” _Is going to be my savior one day. The best man I have ever known. Will love and care for him forever._  “I think you know him.”   
  
“Oh, yeah, I do. Yeah, just broke up with him. Sad, fellow, he was. He was okay. How do you know him?”   
  
“He’s a friend of mine,” the Doctor answered, though that barely covered their relationship.   
  
“He your boyfriend?” Alicia asked.   
  
“No.”   
  
“Oh, good.” Then Alicia opened her bag before pulling out a bottle of water. “Because though he’s incredible in the sack, he is lousy when it comes to anything else.”   
  
Alicia said no more on the subject before the Doctor pulled her by her shirt with both of her hands and slammed her against the nearest brick wall. “You listen to me, and you are going to listen to me very, very carefully,” the Doctor said in soft voice, but one could still hear the anger she felt inside. Oncoming Storm, indeed. “Jonathon Smith is the best man I have ever met. He has saved my life more times than I can count. He is exceptionally brave, caring, loving, and above all else he is trusting. And for some ungodly reason, he trusted you, and do you know what you did? You broke him. You made him doubt himself. He should never  _ever_  doubt himself. You are lowest I have ever seen of humanity, and it’s because of people like you that I used to hate humans. But then I met Jonathon and he made me see all that is good in not only the world, but in the universe. You may have ruined his life now, but in a few years I am going to meet this incredible man and believe me when I tell you that I will make sure he knows just how much he is loved and cared for. Because you couldn’t give him the time of day. The fact that he cared about you so much and you just used him for your own amusement… You make me sick.”   
  
The Doctor finally let go of Alicia’s shirt and started to walk away.  _I am not going to punch her_ , the Doctor thought.  _I’m going to leave the better person. The bigger person. I will not lay a hand on her. Jonathon would not want me to touch her._  
  
“What are you talking about ‘humans’? Like you’re not one of us!? God, you belong in the mental institution with him! You’re both crazy!”   
  
That might have been when the Doctor punched her.


End file.
